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Dynamic Chiropractic Canada
VOLUME 30, NUMBER 4
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NCCAM Featured Content
NCCAM's Advisory Council Welcomes Six New Members
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) welcomes six new members to the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The council serves as the principal ...
 
In the News: Resveratrol
Resveratrol is a naturally occurring chemical found in red wine and other plant products and is sometimes sold as a dietary supplement. Recently, a study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute ...
 
In the News: Placebo Effect
Recently, several news outlets have been highlighting research studies of the placebo effect. The placebo response can be defined as the benefit patients receive from a treatment that has no active components. ...
 
Soy Protein Supplements Do Not Reduce Plaque in Arteries of Postmenopausal Women
Soy protein supplements containing isoflavones do not significantly reduce the progression of atherosclerosis (build-up of plaque in the arteries) in postmenopausal women, according to a recent study published ...
 
Message from the Director: New Directions
The need for careful research on complementary and alternative health practices remains compelling. Tens of millions of Americans are spending $34 billion per year (mostly out-of-pocket) on a variety of ...
 
Safe Use of Complementary Health Products and Practices
As with any treatment, it is important to consider safety before using complementary health products and practices. Safety depends on the specific therapy, and each complementary product or practice should ...
 
Depression and Complementary Health Practices
Depression is a medical condition that affects nearly 21 million American adults each year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Mood, thoughts, physical health, and behavior all may be ...
 


Alternative Health News
Target Your Marketing for Success
When asked what clients they want to work with, many massage therapists answer, "Everybody." When you try to market to everybody, that's called "blanket" marketing.
Challenging Sacred Cows, Round Two
I want to clear up something before I go forward. First, an esteemed colleague and visionary of our profession wrote to me asking if I did not believe in science because of my comment, "While I am not a fan of evidence-based medicine..."
Impacting Children: CranioSacral Therapy and Pediatrics
Working with children is an art as well as a science. Using CranioSacral Therapy (CST) on a child can be especially gratifying as a qualified CST practitioner can facilitate significant changes that can positively improve the quality of a child's life.
Seeing Your Massage Clients Through a New Lens
I've worked with people young and old with complex medical conditions since 1979 when I began my career as an occupational therapist.
Massage Therapy Reduces Low Back Pain
Non-specific low back pain is one of the most common muscular-skeletal issues reported by patients/clients seeking pain relief. Massage therapy is recognized in clinical practice as an effective treatment.
Unlocking the Secret to a Thriving Massage Practice
Whether you own a thriving massage practice, you just want to develop a base of recurring customers, or you're just starting to get clients this article will reveal the little known secret to have more joy from your work, get more clients.
CAMTC Honors CA State Senator Lou Correa
In closing out a busy 2011, the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) honored California State Senator Lou Correa with its Legislator of the Year award at the final 2011 Board of Directors meeting.
Herbs: Revitalizing in Spring to Maintain Youthful Vitality
Spring is the time to revitalize and get moving, but also a time to improve our immune systems so that we can avoid wind-caused health conditions that often proliferate during this season.
A Massage Protocol for Peripheral Neuropathy
My last article in the October 2011 issue focused on diabetic peripheral neuropathy and I want to stress the importance of reviewing that information before proceeding on to this protocol.
Freeing the Heart, Part 2: Equalizing the Pressure
Cardiovascular disease does not happen overnight. It is a progression that evolves over decades and genetic pre-disposition can accelerate this progression dramatically.
Expanding Your Massage Therapy Practice
An e-mail survey conducted in December 2011 found that many massage therapists are missing out some potential revenue streams by not offering any additional products or services to their clients.
The Heart /Kidney Connection
Are you treating health conditions related to or affected by love? This past November I taught at the Pacific Symposium, a large educational conference put on for our industry by the Pacific College in San Diego, Calif.
How Chinese Medicine Can Save Western Medicine
Our country is struggling to reduce the cost of healthcare while simultaneously improving its quality and accessibility. I see a partial solution: use Chinese medicine in Western healthcare settings.
Public Health & Gerontology Groups Support CAM
Two large professional groups recently held annual meetings that featured a number of presentations about acupuncture and CAM topics.
Entrepreneur or Employee? Which is Right for You?
There is no denying the massage and wellness industry is here to stay. People are becoming far more proactive with their health care and are looking to alternatives to heavy medications and a costly doctor visit.
Giving a Big Thumbs Up for Healthy Thumbs
The thumb is one of the most practical and necessary implements of the body. It is the first self-comforting tool to be used, often seen thrust into the mouth of a fetus in the womb.
Practice What You Preach and Go Back to Massage School
For all of us, the massage school experience is (or was) transformational in nature. As students, we were feeling "new" things, literally and figuratively, every day. Our wonder at and reverence for the human body and all of its systems grew by the hour.
Using the Channel Systems of Acupuncture to Unravel the Mysteries of Disease Progression
Wind is a philosophical representation of change in the Chinese classics. It is also acknowledged as the root of all physiological disturbance. It is stated in chapter 3 of the Su Wen that wind is "the cause of hundreds of diseases."
Understanding the Changes of ICD10
Recently, I have been receiving inquiries about the new codes for ICD10. When do they begin and how much of a change will they be?
Get Optimal Energy with Nutritional Self Care
It is our experience that massage therapists are some of the most giving, compassionate people on the planet. While we might be exceptional at caring for others, many massage therapists put themselves last when it comes to their own self-care.
AAAOM Postpones Annual Membership Conference, Leadership Meeting To Be Held
The decision by AAAOM to postpone its annual membership conference for one year was a difficult one.
Hip and Thigh Pain: The Tensor Fascia Latae Connection
Have you ever had a patient with hip and lateral thigh pain that did not respond to your traditional treatment? Would it be helpful to know which muscles to double check that refer pain into the hip and lateral thigh?
Positional Release Self Care for Soreness and Other Pains
If your patients are anything like mine, they will report to you that there is commonly a degree of discomfort, soreness or stiffness a day or so following manual treatment no matter how gentle or appropriate that treatment might have been.
WIBB Exclusive: Who Runs the Show?
Staffing issues abound. By far, it is the number one complaint of employers and the reason I am most contacted for consulting. It goes something like this. You have a successful practice and are turning away business.
Speaking in Code
At this point, I am certain everyone is aware of the CPT codes for billing acupuncture. However, there have been some recent cases where it is clear that not everyone is following the clear-cut rules on how to define and use these codes.
Dealing with Fibromyalgia
It is estimated that between two to four percent of the population are now suffering from fibromyalgia, including Irritable Bowel Syndrome and TMJ. Perhaps our massage school education did not include how to successfully deal with fibromyalgia.
Re-Framing the Idea of Referring New Clients to Other LMT's
Recently, I called a licensed massage therapist to find out about the possibility of getting a session. If I liked her work, I told her, I'd be interested in working with her as my regular LMT. The first thing she said was that she wasn't doing massage now.
The Big C: What Are You Doing About It?
It is the rare to meet a person these days that doesn't have a concern about cancer. Between the constant headlines, to pink ribbons on everything from planes to phones, to hearing that Aunt Stacy was just diagnosed, it is impossible to not be aware of cancer's presence.
Professionalism, Education and Turf Wars
Most professions have discourse about the "professional." Professions define themselves in part by excluding others. I would like to briefly explore professionalism in Chinese medicine.
The Magic of Microcurrent
In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, I found this definition of the word magic: an extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source.
Dr. Shi Xue-Min and the Xing Nao Kai Qiao Legacy
To the acupuncture community, Dr. Shi Xue-Min is known as a distinguished acupuncturist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a supervisor of doctoral candidates in China.
Dynamic Chiropractic – September 20, 1999, Vol. 17, Issue 20
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Why We Finally Said "Yes"

By Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher

For a number of years, different leaders in the acupuncture profession have asked us to develop a Dynamic Chiropractic-like publication for acupuncturists. And while those requestshave been quite persistent, we have politely declined each time.

My view was, "What's the point?" My father and grandfather were both doctors of chiropractic. My passion is for chiropractic. What did I know about acupuncture? I've never even been to an acupuncturist.

But over the past year, several events have caused me to ponder what might be in the best interest of chiropractic:

  1. Dr. Eisenberg's follow-up survey on alternative care use found that the use of acupuncture by the U.S. population more than doubled between 1990 and 1997. While the percentage is still less than 10% of the population using chiropractic, it is growing at a significant rate.1

     

  2. A survey of MDs showed that 53% believed in the efficacy of chiropractic, versus 51% for acupuncture. And while 40% of the MDs said they would refer patients to chiropractors, 43% said they would refer patients to acupuncturists. Chiropractic and acupuncture were the two professions that led the rest of the "alternative care" providers throughout the paper.2

It's not hard to see the trend. Chiropractic still leads the "alternative care" pack, but acupuncture is making important strides. The question is, can the two professions work together and support each other as leaders in the alternative care movement, or will we treat one another as health care adversaries?

While I still don't know much about acupuncture, the issues are obviously much larger. The majority of the medical profession is still reluctant to refer to chiropractors. It occurs to me that perhaps chiropractic and acupuncture can gain greater prominence and growth over the next few years by referring to each other (when appropriate) and joining forces economically, legislatively and scientifically.

Earlier this year when we were again approached by members of the acupuncture profession to start an acupuncture publication, we presented them with the following conditions regarding the publication:

Pro-Chiropractic -- The publication would have to be pro-chiropractic. Beside the articles about acupuncture, there would have to be articles about what chiropractic is and when an acupuncturist should refer to a doctor of chiropractic.

Referrals -- Each issue would contain an advertisement which would encourage acupuncturists to refer to doctors of chiropractic using the ChiroWeb website Referral Directory (http://www.chiroweb.com/cgi-bin/locator ).

Cooperation between Professions -- There would have to be a means to join forces politically and economically on the issues that are important to both professions. The publication would have to support that effort.

Our stipulations were agreed to and an agreement was made to publish acupuncture's first monthly newspaper. The staff at Dynamic Chiropractic will be providing the editing, design,layout, graphics and production expertise. The content will be provided by various writers and authorities from across the United States.

What's important is that the first bridge between the two professions will be spanned. We hope this effort will open doors for both disciplines, enhance patient care and profession and practice growth.

It may well be that the fate of the chiropractic profession is nestled in the fate of the alternative health care movement.

References

1. Eisenberg DM, Davis RB, Ettner SL, Appel S, Wilkey S, Van Rompay M, Kessler RC. Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-1997. JAMA 1998;280:1569-1575. (http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/17/01/10.html )

2. Astin JA, Marie A, Pelletier KR, Hansen E, Haskell WL. A review of the incorporation of complimentary and alternative medicine by mainstream physicians. Arch Intern Med 1998;158:2303-2310.

Click here for more information about Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher.

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